Wicked Search Engine Optimization (2018)

What’s the Point of a Website, if Nobody can find you?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is what makes your business’s website more visible on the Web, who doesn’t want that?

It can make your website, or your blog stand out from the crowd, or at least get you in front of some of your competition.

Some business owners know that they need SEO. You probably do too. Though everyone may have dreams of getting discovered online, they may not know what the process is called, or where to start.

Thankfully you’ve stumbled your way here, where I can help point you in the right direction to get higher on search engines, either for location-based searches, or general queries related to your business.

Questions to Consider

Do you really know how SEO can help your company grow?

Do you know how to effectively use SEO to drive potential clients to your website or maybe your Facebook page if you’re using that as your primary online residence?

Of course, there are businesses that do great without Search Engine Optimization. However, these companies have products that are in very high demand or have little to no competition. If you are like most business owners, you are probably very interested to learn how SEO can help your company and how to find the right person to help you with this crucial work (me!).

Why is SEO Often Overlooked by Small Businesses?

Small business owners are very focused on managing their company and, well, on conducting business as efficiently and as profitably as possible.

Few have the time to focus on SEO, even if they knew the basics… Time becomes the bottleneck. And this is the first reason why SEO is often overlooked by small business owners: the lack of time.

But did you know that you don’t have to do everything yourself? A Virtual Marketing Officer (or VMO) can help you, for example. (Talk about a new-fangled title!)

Another reason why a small business owner may forgo about SEO is the fact that their company is turning a profit and they are selling their products or services. Life is good, so why change anything? Why wouldn’t you want more clients? Why not invest into growing your business further?

SEO can help you bring in additional clients, in turn making your company even more profitable.

Of course, the third reason why a small business owner such as yourself would overlook SEO, is the fact that you do not know how to do it or even where to begin (insert LOST meme here). Of course, you could read a dozen SEO articles, take the million courses and try applying the knowledge to your website or blog. Somehow, that seems far-fetched doesn’t it? I know it does to me!

You can even pay for a one-on-one course with a SEO expert. But this again takes precious time; time you may not have. Again, a Virtual Marketing Officer is perhaps the ideal solution, as this would be a professional who knows how to use the best SEO tactics from your business (among many other valuable, and otherwise time-consuming skills like social media marketing).

How Google Business Listing Are a Still Widely Ignored Traffic Booster?

Did you know that you can add your company to Google’s My Business platform? You knew right, I hope so!

By adding your business listing to Google My Business, you effectively manage how your business appears in Google Maps, Google+, Knowledge Graph, and even on the organic search results page… You’ve probably seen business listings in either the ‘three map pack results’ on a search page, or a specific business listing on the right side of a locally specific search. That’s what we’re chasing here, that sweet goodness.

Optimizing your business listing on Google has been demonstrated to significantly improve your local SEO success. As a matter of opinion, I consider it to be one of the cornerstone SEO pillars.

Nowadays, more and more people are searching for products and services online. This means everything from local dentists and specialized software to pizza and toys for children. Your company can be among the first to display when people search for products locally. In other words, your business listing can bring a huge amount of traffic to your website or blog. Yet so often, businesses haven’t even taken the first steps.

Don’t forget that people also search online for brick and mortar companies that they will then visit to sample products or to buy specific goods or services. Your business can be one of them.

The better you optimize your Google business listing, the more people will see it online. If you don’t know how to do it, you can let a VMO handle the job of creating and optimizing a business listing for you. There’s a few secret tips that go along with optimizing these listing, and that all revolves around what we call NAP citations (name, address, phone). More on this soon!

Posting Content That Is Relevant Helps People, and Helps You!

Another very important part of SEO is content creation, also known as content marketing. Let’s face it; Google is looking for fresh, unique content. The search engine wants content that is relevant and informational. It wants content that helps people. After all, Google makes its money by delivering high quality information to the people who are looking for it. (Well, delivering excellent quality results leads to more people continuously using the engine, and therefore more exposure to ads, and therefore more revenue potential).

This is precisely why you want to post relevant, informative content on your website. Whether through city-based landing pages, or a blog.

In the case of a blog, you need to do it periodically. It may sound strange, but Google actually ranks blogs that post content regularly higher than blogs that post sporadically. Of course, the quality of the content is also a decisive factor… You’ve got to find what works best for you, or, again, find a handsome VMO (Virtual Marketing Officer) to tackle the task for you!

There are dozens of ways to improve the SEO rating of your blog or website. There are hundreds of tricks and tactics to make your content more relevant and more attractive to search engines.

However, one thing remains true: your web content must be of the highest possible quality and must be relevant. Stuffing keywords in headings and all over the place will only get you penalized in Google. Just work for the end-user, in a carefully thought out way, that takes technical aspects of design into account.

I always tell people that search optimization is an artform that blends technical and creative elements to attract the right attention.

It’s time to dedicate more effort to creating the best content possible; content that is useful for people and that those people would actually want to read it. Always keep in mind that you are posting the content for the people, not for the search engine… Unless you’re writing another love letter to Google, then you’re kind of doing both!

Common Pitfalls of the DIY Method

As we mentioned earlier, it is possible for you to learn to do SEO yourself. It takes a lot of time and practice though. Some aspects might be tough to grasp the reasons why, or the actual way to implement certain tactics. Most business owners who are trying the DIY method usually fail because they have little to no experience.

That’s not a bad thing. We all have our specialties. In fact, that’s how advanced systems and economies develop. People must specialize. Just like I COULD learn to properly seal my driveway, doesn’t mean I should. The time I could waste, and the problems associated with a poorly executed job, leaves me in a place where I would have been better off to hire a professional.

Some folks on the outside looking in think SEO and content marketing is easy, when the reality is just the opposite: doing SEO effectively is very difficult. It’s tough stuff!

The best way to avoid the pitfalls of the do-it-yourself method is to hire a specialist. A Virtual Marketing Officer has extensive experience with SEO and will avoid the mistakes you are at risk of making if you DIY. Also, he knows how to use the best SEO tactics for you.

Conclusion

In conclusion, SEO is very important for businesses, yet many of them overlook it. Most business owners who realize the importance of SEO try to do it themselves at first (if at all), wreaking havoc on their website or blog.

If you can manage to create an awesome business listing on Google, apply the correct SEO tactics, and create content that is valuable and relevant, you are bound to see a serious boost in traffic. And remember, doubling or tripling your organic traffic will most likely double or triple your sales or incoming calls.

To make sure you succeed in your SEO efforts if you have little experience with Search Engine Optimization, hire a VMO and let him improve your website’s or blog’s ranking. This way you can focus on what is important to you: managing your business and improving your company’s bottom line.